2010 Year in Review - UA Wildcats

TOP 10 WILDCATS STORIES

Compelling story lines that defined 2010 for UA athletics

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King of the Ks

Kurt Heyer set a UA freshman record with 109 strikeouts in 102 innings. Heyer finished 7-4 with a 3.26 ERA, coming up with the victory over Baylor as the young Wildcats won their first game in an NCAA regional in Fort Worth, Texas. Heyer will lead a promising team in 2011 after Arizona finished 34-24 in 2010.

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Photo: Courtesy of Arizona Athletics

Excellence in the pool

The men's swimming team finished third at the NCAA championships and had two individual champions - Cory Chitwood (200-yard backstroke) and Clark Burckle (200 breaststroke). The women finished fourth nationally, winning the 400 medley and 200 medley relay events, and Annie Chandler won the 100 breaststroke in NCAA record time. The men and women, who each won NCAA titles in 2008, are poised for more championship runs in 2011.

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Photo: Donald Miralle/Getty Images

Fabulous freshman

Post player Derrick Williams, who wasn't even on Rivals.com list of the top 150 incoming recruits, emerges as a Freshman All-American and the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, averaging 15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. A fast start to the 2010-11 season made Williams a strong candidate for the conference Player of the Year award.

Anthony Gimino/Tucson Citizen

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Rising and falling

It was a tale of two seasons for the Arizona football team. The glass-half-full crowd will focus on the 7-1 start, the program's first top 10 ranking since 1999 and a third consecutive bowl game, tying the longest streak in school history. The glass-half-empty crowd will grouse about the four-game losing streak to end the regular season. Through it all, the Wildcats created quite a buzz either way.

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Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Series thriller

Arizona, led by a power-hitting lineup and freshman ace Kenzie Fowler, advanced to the Women's College World Series for the 22nd time in 23 years. The Series was packed with drama, as the Wildcats dropped their opener 9-0 to Tennessee before reeling off four consecutive victories to reach the championship series against rival UCLA. The Bruins rallied to win the first game in extra innings ... and Fowler ran out of gas as UCLA took the title.

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Photo: Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

NCAA sanctions

The NCAA ruled in July on recruiting violations that occurred under the watch of former basketball coach Lute Olson. The NCAA placed the program on two years of probation, vacated 19 wins from the 2007-08 season and took away one scholarship from the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, giving coach Sean Miller a little less margin of error as he tries to restore the program.

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Photo: Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic

Blocked!

Arizona appeared to have pulled out a victory against Arizona State with a late touchdown drive, but the Sun Devils blocked Alex Zendejas' low extra-point attempt, leaving the game tied with 27 seconds left. Then, ASU blocked another PAT attempt at the end of the second overtime to win 30-29 in a wild Territorial Cup matchup that will be long remembered on both sides.

Anthony Gimino/Tucson Citizen

Photo: David Sanders/Arizona Daily Star

NCAA Woman of the Year

For the third time in four years, the Arizona swimming program produced the NCAA Woman of the Year. This time it was Justine Schluntz, a 16-time All-American who is now studying in England as a Rhodes Scholar. She follows in the UA footsteps of Whitney Myers (the 2007 winner) and Lacey Nymeyer (2009) as winners of the NCAA's top award for female athletes, honoring athletic achievement, academics, service and leadership.

Anthony Gimino/Tucson Citizen

Photo: Dean Knuth/Arizona Daily Star

NCAA streak finally ends

First-year coach Sean Miller - the program's fourth head coach in four seasons - never talked about the NCAA Tournament as a goal, and with good reason. The young, rebuilding Wildcats went through growing pains and finished 16-15. Despite the low expectations for the season, it was still a sad end to Arizona's 25-year streak of advancing to the Big Dance.

Anthony Gimino/Tucson Citizen

Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

New era begins

When athletic director Jim Livengood resigned in December 2009 to take the same position at UNLV, Arizona went through a patient search and landed one of the rising stars in the business - 39-year-old Greg Byrne. Byrne, the social-media-loving former AD at Mississippi State, brought new energy and ideas - a preseason tour of the state, the pregame "Wildcat Walk" - while making progress toward the construction of football facilities in the north end zone of Arizona Stadium.